Numerous implements have been devised for gardening, yard work and various pick-up chores. Some tools combine rake-like features with collection bags. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,688,483 discloses a multi-purpose household yard and garden tool, the main purpose of which, when fitted with a bag, is for dog refuse collection and disposal. This hand tool has a yoke on one end of the handle with a scraping or hoe blade on one side and rake teeth on the other side in the same plane with the blade. A generally U-shaped spring wire clip fits over the yoke to fasten the opened mouth end of a bag onto the yoke with either the rake teeth forward or the blade forward relative to the open mouth of the bag to enable collecting refuse in the bag. A fresh bag may be applied over the yoke end of the tool when the blade or rake teeth have been soiled during the collection of dog refuse, whereby to seal off the yoke end of the tool when a tie-string or the like is applied around the mouth end of the bag closing it tightly around the handle. Clear plastic bags obtainable on the market designed primarily for food wrapping are ideal for use on this hand tool.
Tools with mesh collection bags have also been designed for water-clearing applications. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,368,502 describes a tool for cleaning debris from swimming pools that includes a frame, a net and retaining means for retaining the net on the frame. The preferred retaining means is an elongated strip of resilient, flexible clips having a generally U-shaped cross-section. The preferred frame of the tool is fabricated from metal and includes an elongated, curved frame portion with its ends welded to a tubular attachment member, to permit attachment of the tool to a handle, pole or similar structure.
There have also been invented a wide variety of tools specifically intended for pond cleaning. However, these are designed to solve a specific problem, such a surface skimming, and therefore lack versatility.